Tracking an Android cell phone location, having some people located in real time by the device they always carry on, may be one of the most frequent questions in the tech world.
Why would we want to know where certain people are? 007-style espionage? Are you a detective? Do you want to keep an eye on the little ones or maybe the grown-ups?
As inferred from the previous paragraph, some of the reasons border on the limits of legality and you could get into trouble if you try to track the location of people without their explicit consent. That is to say that either you have permission signed by the person, or there is a court order, you are the legal tutor of a certain person and you have the legitimate right to monitor their location for security reasons.
Whatever the reason is, there are several techniques we can use to track a cell phone, some free, some paid, some solutions are hardware, some software, … but the goal is always the same: track a cell phone to know its location. We don’t always use a gps tool to find a location.
You might have lost your cell phone or it might have been stolen and you just want to find the lost cell phone.
Techniques to track an Android phone
As we have already introduced, different ways to locate a device by any user are going to be discussed. Those methods depend on the following:
- the cellphone built-in gps chip.
- the cell phone number
- the information that certain software installed on the device is sending to the internet.
The latter is not legal in most countries as it’s achieved by using software or apps to locate a device. There are legitimated commercial apps, but others, in the form of “virus” that infect your terminal to track it down without the consent of the owner are also used.
The hardware options are usually more expensive and sophisticated.
How does cell phone tracking techniques work? Tracking by GPS
Years ago it was +1 to acquire a device that had an integrated GPS chip. Nowadays, it’s rare to find a device that does not include one. Not only talking about smartphones, tablets and other more “complex” devices. But any smartwatch, bracelets, wristband or sport monitoring bands…, even your car …. come with an integrated GPS chip.
Almost all of these techniques rely primarily on a GPS.
A GPS works by capturing the signal that a series of satellites emit continuously so that after making some calculations the result is the current position of the device.
Is GPS cell phone tracking a foolproof method?
The problem is not the technology itself, which is very accurate. The problem is applying this technology to succeed.
There are methods to track a cell phone we are going to describe, but there are many others to avoid being located. The most direct and simple way is to turn off the cell phone or device.
In addition to calculating the exact position of a cell phone by GPS so that we can find the device, the cellphone has to be able to send the location in some way. Usually it is in the form of an app or software connected to the internet that continuously updates these coordinates. If we disable wifi and / or data, i.e by putting the cell phone in airplane mode, we will not be able to know where the device is located. This is because these applications depend on Internet connectivity.
In case your phone was lost or stolen, if the person who took / found your device was able to do a hard reset, i.e. a wipe or reset to factory defaults, it will also be very difficult to recover its location. Sometimes, this type of reset is password protected and it is impossible to do without it. Therefore, if the reason for finding out the location of your cell phone is because it was stolen, and it is impossible to erase it completely, the new owner will only be able to change the SIM card and then we will have a chance to recover it.
Tracking methods: APPs. Locate your cell phone via internet.
Knowing the location of your device when you need it requires anticipation and planning. What does this mean? It means you must be prepared in advance for the disaster protecting your cell phone in some way before you loose have access to it. We should install an app that allows us to track the location of our cell phone when we need it.
It is not difficult to find an app to track the location of your cell phone since the main operating systems have their own integrated software. That is, it’s not necessary to install additional software and the only thing you’ll have to do is a minimal and basic configuration.
Are you an Android user? Your application is: Find my Device
This is the equivalent application to the one available for iPhones or other IOS devices. This one is even easier to set up if possible because you only need to have a Google account. Who doesn’t have one in 2022?
How do we do it? Well, logged in our Google account, we need to go to android.com/find. Wtihin this interface we will see the following:
Basically, the same options we saw in the iPhone software. We will be able to see the last location where the device was tracked, play a sound (even if the phone is in vibration mode), PIN lock the phone and / or completely erase the device. Instructions for setting up Android Find my Device, step by step, here.
Other operating systems: Windows Phone
Windows phone also has its equivalent to Find my device or Find my phone. But as it is a currently discontinued operating system, we are not going to detail it. But still, here the link to the official documentation is: https://support.microsoft.com/
Find my mobile by Samsung.
Find my mobile de Samsung.
Considering that most Samsung smartphones come equipped with Android, it’d be redundant to use Samsung’s Find my mobile. Still, for those interested in double protection, you’d need a Samsung account added to your smartphone. The magic would happen at https://findmymobile.samsung.com/ where in addition to locating the device on a map, you could perform the now typical actions of “playing a sound”, “locking the cell phone by code”, “erase it”, some other Samsung specific options are available. Step-by-step instructions here.
Cerberus:
Cerberus is an Android-only app, with free (capped) and paid (full) versions. In addition to the classic location software options adds the ability to take a picture “of the thief” using the cell phone’s front camera, so you could have a snapshot of the person who took your cell phone away.
Prey:
Prey is a replica of the previous app but is available for Ios and Android. With Prey you can also take snapshots with the device’s front camera remotely. It’s totally free.
But, what if I wasn’t cautious and didn’t set up any of the above apps, can I still locate my cell phone?
Well, let’s say you’d be a little far from recovering your cell phone, but we won’t give up. So what do we do?
Let’s call our service provider.
If software is no longer an option, our carrier may be able to save us this time. Call TelCel, Movistar, Vodafone, Orange, Deutsche Telekom, Verizon, At&T Customer Service… They may have a service to track the location of your cell phone so you can recover it. But if you are not the legitimate owner of the line using the cell phone, you’re not going to get that information unless you have a court order in your possession.
Let’s hope the friend of other people’s stuff is not tech savvy
Try to remember all the applications you had installed in your phone. Some of them may automatically share your location or upload images or any other information to the Internet. For example, Google’s photo service. If the person who has your cell phone has not checked this out, he might have uploaded a photo testing the camera. This service is usually set up to save geolocation so you could track your cell phone this way. And even better, if the thief took a selfie, you already have his face.
Is it possible to track a cell phone by SIM number?
If you search the internet you will see a multitude of services offering tracking a cellphone by number. But this is very unlikely will work for you. So be careful where you give your phone number and also who you give your credit card number.
Legitimate ways to track a cell phone.
If we go white hat and have the explicit permission of the cell phone owner, we have several options at our disposal.
Almost any social or messaging network currently has the option to share your location. WhatsApp released a specific functionality very recently. It’s also the case of ICloud and Google, which we have already mentioned above.
Family special: other apps to control location
Find my friends
It is an application focused on real time sharing location of friends and family. All members of the same family at all times can know where everyone is, especially the kids. Available for iPhone and Android.
Life360
Very similar to the previous one, it’s an application created for the segment of families who want to know at all times where each family member is. It also has some extra functionalities that facilitate alerts between all participants to communicate with each other. It also adds alerts and emergency functions. Available for both IOS and Android.
Not recommended: Options to track a cell phone without permission.
The first thing to keep in mind is that in most countries around the world, this is something totally punishable and illegal. Don’t try to do it because you could be in big trouble. We are NOT going to give you any information about this, but instead we’ll talk how to protect your phone against this practices.
Tampering with the cell phone
By manipulating the cell phone we mean installing apps on a target smartphone. In order to do this, the first thing you need is to have physical access and login credentials. So be really careful who handles your phone.
This can work as long as the owner of the cell phone is not very careful or tech savvy, because any average user will soon detect that there are new applications and settings on his cell phone that he did not install. So from time to time you should pay attention to what’s installed on your phone.
A step further would be applications to hide this trace.
So always keep track of your cell phone and don’t let anyone you don’t know tamper with it. If you have to take it to the technical service, it is recommended that you make a backup and then a factory reset and restore it once it is returned to you. Otherwise you are exposing yourself to unauthorized software.
Hardware options: GPS hardware.
Nowadays almost every device has a built-in GPS and if not, such a hardware device is relatively affordable. With a GPS, third party could easily monitor your location. Previously this was available to very few and the hardware device was very unsophisticated. In the 20’s these devices are very small in size and are designed so that they are not easily detectable. They even pretend to be other objects so that they do not attract the attention of the person you need to track.
Conclusion
There are infinite reasons and arguments for tracking a cell phone. But hardly any of them would be accepted as a compelling reason or major cause in a court of law.
There are also many websites, apps and services that claim to do so, but in the end all they are looking for is to get your money.
Of all the legitimate reasons that may be suggested, control of your children or adults under your tutelage is the only one that seems to us ethically reasonable. Well, and also the protection of your own cell phone in case of theft or loss. To achieve this, you only need to configure the options that modern mobile operating systems usually come with.
Think twice before doing something you might regret. If you think we left something out and want to help complete the information in this article, please leave us a comment and remember that this article about how to track a cell phone originally appeared on FrikiPhone.
This post is also available in: Español (Spanish)